Regular, updated plugins and highly functional extensions continue to make Adobe Photoshop a must have tool. Below is a list of twenty free Photoshop plugins that, as a designer, you’ll feel compelled to try.

1. Ink
As a designer, we have all had to occasionally bang our heads but still not be able to make the developers understand our designs. But with Ink, it helps to communicate your design to the developers and work cooperatively as a team.

You can include the subtle information in your Photoshop document using Ink. You can add all the crucial specs such as text formatting, layer styles, typography, effects, and sizes. This information is kept in a separate folder to avoid the clutter.

Ink helps you make sure that your final design looks exactly how you expected them to be when you hand the brief to the developers.

Velositey is a plugin that lets you create a website template with ease. It only takes a little amount of time to create a web template thatcan fit in with your existing Photoshop setup.

The plugin does not charge you for the use ofthe templates it offers. All it asks for is that you mention the plugin in your social media channels.

You can choose from over 60 templates. Velositey is a sophisticated tool that benefits both the designers and developers.

3. virtualPhotographer
The plugin is best suited for those who are just starting out as a photographer or are new tophoto improvement. VirtualPhotographer is a quick and effective way to get those stylized images that you want. If you’re in a hurry, it can create some sophisticated looks in a matter of seconds with its pre-set filters.

4. Flaticon.com
Freepik has launched a tool entirely dedicated to downloading icons: Flaticon.com. Although it allows more flexibility to premium users, it might be the largest database of free vector icons. This plugin allows you to quickly find all the icons without having to leave your space.

This plugin converts your Photoshop layers into CSS3 layers. It achieves the live-rendered effects that come with CSS. So it automatically converts the outer glows, drop shadows, text and rounded corners, and strokes to CSS3. It can save a developer some valuable time.

6. Perfect Effects 3
Perfect Effects 3 free is a handy tool for getting quick effects on an image. It can be colour treatment, an addition of texture and noise, or creative borders. It has an effects library as well, kind of like the filter gallery in Photoshop.

7. SuperPNG
You must obviously be familiar with the amount of time it can take Photoshop to render files to PNG. SuperPNG fixes this by offering more control over your image export and PNG output. It balances between speed and file size, and control over the alpha channel and Metadata.

8. Wire Worm
Sometimes, when you take a picture, a few wires and telephone cables obstruct your perfect view. With Wire Worm, it can save you a lot of time to remove all those unnecessary objects from your images. The interface allows you to select an area around a wire or other obstruction and the tool automatically removes it.

9. Tych Panel 2
Tych Panel 2 makes it easy to create multiple panels with Photoshop. Just select the alignment, number of rows and columns, or hybrid layouts. Plus, it uses Smart Objects and layer masks to avoid destructive editing.

This plugin only works in CS6. It makes it easy to export your designs from Photoshop to the web. Do not rely on Photoshop’s outdate exportation. Cut&Slice me has a new way of exporting your designs. It overlaps slices, multiple states and even exports different resolutions of the same effects. It caters to the different screen sizes and devices accordingly.

11. Mr. Stacks
Mr. Stacks converts layers into a storyboard view. It structures your individual comps into a layout that can be easily output as PDF for sharing and printing, thereby making Photoshop a great place to create a storyboard. You’ll be saved from all the dull positioning and exporting which is normally generated manually.

12. Freeware Boundary Noise Reduction
This plugin is a freeware version of the full Boundary Noise Reduction plugin. It has a simpler set of controls when compared to the premium version, but it’s still superior to Photoshop’s own noise reduction filter.

13. Pano Warp
Even though Photoshop offers a useful Lens Correction feature, this plugin takes a different approach. It can be used to adjust the focal length, roll, and horizon height. Panorama distortion can be corrected easily as well.

15. Sinedots II
Often, you need good, complex but seemingly random patterns – also called abstracts – to use as backgrounds. This plugin is perfect to generate those wave kinds of patterns. Don’t be fooled.It’s phenomenally complex. It’s quite old, almost a decade, but it gets the job done, and does it well.

To prevent things from getting hectic in Photoshop, you must name your layers. But often, due to the burden or a time slot, you need to rename your layers reflectively. It can become chaos.

With Renamy, you can rename various layers, find and replace names, and manage name list. It even has an autocomplete feature. A free demo is available that you may use before purchasing it.

17. Social Kit
This plugin hosts customizable templates. It caters to four of the biggest social networks, which are Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube. It also provides a variety of interactive social buttons.

Every layout is sliced and adjustable, and the plugin consequently updates when there is any change. You can see your design changes progressively. You can also add contributors.

18. Layrs Control
Layrs Control is the plugin that does all your tedious tasks. It has five main features. It includes a layer name editor. It also has options to remove any effects which aren’t used and flatten all layer effects. Other than that, it deletes empty layers and rasterizes smart objects. Doing all this cuts down the size of your file.

19. BlendMe.In
BlendMe.in is a very useful plugin for both Photoshop and Illustrator. It lets you search thousands of assets, and you can simply drag and drop them into you canvas. It causes no interruptions. All the icons are vector format.
The interface resides within the Photoshop panel. It’s unpretentious and makes it simple to drag resources onto your canvas.

20. Breeezy
Breeezy is a plugin that only works with CS5 or higher versions. It provides multilayer export functionality. This makes it quick and easy to work on apps and websites.

The best part about Breezy is that it has the ability to save a layer’s transparency when exporting it. It also names files according to the layer names. It organizes them all in one separate folder.

Guest Author: Christina Matthew

Christina Matthew is a marketing executive at Groovy Essays – online writing firm with provide essay writing help and also specializes in generating leads through tried and tested marketing strategies. When not strategizing marketing plans, she writes informational blogs on the topics of her liking.